1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to web-based video display and specifically to an improved method for navigation within video content.
2. Description of the Related Art
Various web sites exist that provide hosted video content to viewers. One such site is the YOUTUBE™ site, provided by Google Inc. of Mountain View, Calif. Typically, videos are supplied to the video hosting website by content providers, and are then made available for viewing by the public at large.
Conventionally, when a video is provided for online viewing, instead of requiring the client device to obtain the entire video before beginning to play the video, the video starts to play after a pre-determined amount of the video has been received by the client device. As the video plays, additional content is provided and buffered locally. Consequently, if a user chooses to fast forward through a portion of the video, images are only available for the portion of the video that is buffered locally at the client device. Beyond that point, the users are fast forwarding blindly, not knowing where they are in the video unless they happen to know the precise time stamp of where they want to go. Some users fast forward to get past a portion that is not of interest, although the users do not know how long that portion will last.
Additionally, navigating forward or backward through a video often requires clicking on a relatively small icon in the user interface. A small icon can be difficult to click on accurately and as video resolution improves, icons can be made even smaller and thus even more difficult to click on. More televisions are internet enabled and thus users will be farther away from the display device on which they are viewing video content and this adds to the difficulty of accurately clicking on a small icon.